Aims to Maintain Calm Along Israel-Gaza Border

Though Israeli politicians regularly blame Hamas every time a makeshift rocket comes out of the Gaza Strip and lands in an empty field along the border, officials will usually concede that the fire is from smaller, anti-Hamas factions.

Underscoring that fact, Hamas has announced the creation of a new, 600-strong force created entirely to prevent rocket fire along the border and attempt to keep the always tense area quiet.

Those rocket strikes rarely do any real damage, but usually spark massive military responses from Israel, as in November when Israel killed 105 civilians in response to a salvo from Gaza.

Hamas is in a state of flux right now, having scrapped long-standing ties with Iran and Syria in favor of closer ties to Sunni nations like Egypt. This would be a particularly inopportune time for another Israeli invasion, and the new force seems designed to prevent Israel from having any pretexts for that. Whether it is successful or not remains to be seen.

399014 Responseshttp%3A%2F%2Fnews.antiwar.com%2F2013%2F06%2F17%2Fhamas-new-600-man-force-to-prevent-rocket-strikes-on-israel%2FHamas%27+New+600-Man+Force+to+Prevent+Rocket+Strikes+on+Israel+2013-06-18+02%3A14%3A50Jason+Ditzhttp%3A%2F%2Fnews.antiwar.com%2F%3Fp%3D39901 to “Hamas’ New 600-Man Force to Prevent Rocket Strikes on Israel”

"every time a makeshift rocket comes out of the Gaza Strip and lands in an empty field"
Such rockets are aimed at Israeli towns and could just as easily hit a kindergarten.
More accurate, less biased and professional reporting would simply read "every time a rocket comes out of the Gaza Strip and lands Israel ".

This is a good idea. Those toy rockets are foolish. They harm Hamas more than Israel.

However, it won't stop Israeli attacks. They can find or make a pretext whenever they wish to make a large attack, and assassinations they do without need of reason. They do those larger attacks to keep Gaza in ruins. It is policy.

If Gaza starts to recover, it will be smashed again, and the reason won't matter.

It bothers me that even smart people, like Jason Ditz, eventually fall to Israeli propaganda.

Let's set the record straight.

Pillar of Defense in November began when Israel decided to assassinate Ahmad Jabari. Gaza retaliated and then hostilities continued for 8 days. And not because Gaza fired rockets that "usually spark massive military responses from Israel"